The (SNP) ( is a in the
Scottish Government .
The SNP holds 47 of 129 seats in the
Scottish Parliament , 2 of 7 Scottish seats in the
European Parliament , and 6 of 59 Scottish seats in the
UK Parliament .
See Also: History of the Scottish National Party
The SNP was formed in 1934 from the merger of the
National Party Of Scotland and the
Scottish Party . The SNP first won a
Parliamentary seat at the
Motherwell By-election in 1945, but Dr
Robert McIntyre MP lost the seat at the
General Election three months later. They next won a seat in 1967, when
Winnie Ewing was the surprise winner of a
By-election in the previously safe
Labour seat of
Hamilton . This brought the SNP to national prominence, leading to the establishment of the
Kilbrandon Commission . Their high point in UK General Elections thus far was when they polled almost a third of all votes in Scotland at the
October 1974 General Election and returned 11 MPs to
Westminster , to date the most MPs they have had.
With the establishment of
Devolution for Scotland in 1999, the SNP became the main
Opposition party to the
Labour -
Liberal Democrat Coalition Scottish Executive . However, following the 2007 elections, they became the largest party in the
Scottish Parliament and formed a
Minority Government .
See Also: Scottish Parliament election, 2007
The Scottish National Party was returned to the
Scottish Parliament as the largest party in the
3 May 2007 elections. They now form the
Scottish Executive as a
Minority Government , with
Alex Salmond elected as
First Minister .http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6659531.stm Salmond elected as first minister; ''BBC News''; 16 May 2007
Mr Salmond has detailed plans that state that within 100 days of taking office, an SNP led Executive will issue a bill timetabling a
Referendum , proposing that the Scottish Executive enter into negotiations with the
United Kingdom Government in order to repeal the
Acts Of Union 1707 , thereby returning Scotland to its pre-1707 status as an independent and sovereign state. It is proposed that such a referendum will be put to the Scottish electorate towards the end of the parliamentary session in 2010.
The SNP consists of local branches of party members. Those branches then form an association in the constituency they represent (unless there is only one branch in the constituency, in which case it forms a Constituency Branch rather than a Constituency Association). There are also eight Regional Associations to which the branches and constituency associations in each can send delegates.
The SNP's policy structure is developed at its Annual National Conference and its regular National Council meetings. There are also regular meetings of its National Assembly which although they do not formally make policy allow for detailed discussion of what party policy should be.
The party has an active
Youth Wing as well as a
Student Wing . There is also an
SNP Trade Union Group . There is an independently-owned monthly newspaper, ''
The Scots Independent '', which is highly supportive of the party.
The SNP's leadership is invested in its National Executive Committee (NEC) which is made up of the party's elected office bearers and 10 elected members (voted for at conference). The SNP parliamentarians (Scottish, Westminster and European) and councillors have respresentation on the NEC, as do the Trade Union Group and the youth wing/student wing jointly.
According to accounts filed with the
Electoral Commission for the year ending 2004, the party had a membership of 10,854 in 2004, up from 9,450 from 2003. It had income of about £1,300,000 (including
Bequest s of just under £300,000) and expenditure of about £1,000,000.
electoralcommission.org.uk
By
The SNP's policy base is, by and large, in the mainstream
Europe an
Social Democratic mould. For example, amongst their policies are a commitment to
Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament ,
Progressive Personal Taxation to
Redistribute Wealth from rich to poor, the eradication of
Poverty ,
Free State Education including support grants for
Higher Education students, a pay increase for nurses and so on. They are also committed to an
Independent Scotland being a full
Member State of the
European Union , as well as supporting Scottish entry to the
Single European Currency at the appropriate
Exchange Rate . They also stated their opposition to
NATO .
Contrary to the expectations of many, the SNP are not an expressly
Republican party and the general view within the party is that this is an issue secondary to that of Scottish independence. Many SNP members are republicans though, and both the party student and youth wings are expressly so.
The SNP is committed to maintaining an independent Scotland within the
Commonwealth Of Nations .
Although it is widely accepted that the SNP is in modern times a moderate left-of-centre political party, this has not always been the case. From almost the instant the party was born, there have been ideological tensions present within the SNP. This was by and large a product of the way in which the party was formed, as an amalgamation of the left-of-centre
National Party Of Scotland , and the right-of-centre
Scottish Party . Ideological tensions have largely been resolved over the lifetime of the party.
However, by the 1960s, the party was beginning to be defined ideologically. They had by then established their National Assembly which allowed for discussion of policy and it was producing papers on a host of policy issues that could be described as
Social Democratic . Also, the emergence of
William Wolfe (universally known as Billy) as a leading figure played a huge role in the SNP defining itself as a left-of-centre
Social-democratic party. He recognised the need to do this to challenge the dominant political position of the
Scottish Labour Party .
He achieved this in a number of ways: establishing the SNP Trade Union Group; promoting left-of-centre policies; and identifying the SNP with labour campaigns (such as the
Upper-Clyde Shipbuilders Work-in and the attempt of the workers at the Scottish ''
Daily Express '' to run as a
Cooperative ). It was during Wolfe's period as SNP leader in the 1970s that the SNP became clearly identified as a social-democratic political party.
There were some ideological tensions in the 1970s SNP. The party leadership under Wolfe was determined to keep the party clearly on the left of the
Scottish Political Spectrum , to put them in a position to challenge Labour. However, the party's MPs who in the main represented seats won from the
Conservatives were less keen to have the SNP viewed as a left-of-centre alternative to Labour, for fear of losing their seats back to the Conservatives.
There was further ideological strife after 1979 with the
79 Group attempting to move the SNP further to the left, away from being what could be described a 'social-democratic' party, to an expressly 'socialist' party. This brought with it a response from those opposed to this, who desired the SNP to remain a 'broad church' and apart from arguments of left vs. right, in the shape of the
Campaign For Nationalism In Scotland .
The 1980s saw the SNP further define itself as a party of the left, with campaigns against the
Poll Tax and so on. They have developed this platform to the stage they are at now: a clear, moderate, centre-left political party. This has itself not gone without internal criticism from the left of the party who believe that in modern years the party has moderated itself too much.
The ideological tensions inside the SNP are further complicated by the arguments between
Gradualists and
Fundamentalists . In essence, gradualists seek to advance Scotland to independence through further devolution, in a 'step by step' strategy. They tend to be in the moderate left grouping, although much of the
79 Group was gradualist in approach. However, this 79 Group gradualism was as much a reaction against the fundamentalists of the day, many of whom believed the SNP should not take a clear left or right position.
The position of fundamentalists within the SNP is further complicated by the fact that modern fundamentalists are unlike the old-style. They tend to be on the left of the party, critical of both the gradualist approach to independence and what they perceive as a moderation of the party's socio-economic policy portfolio.
This grouping of "neo-fundamentalists" have their roots within the
Jim Sillars , a former Labour MP, camp inside the SNP.
The SNP retains close links with .
- President - Ian Hudghton MEP
- Business Convenor - Angus Robertson MP
- Leader - Alex Salmond MP/MSP
- Deputy Leader - Nicola Sturgeon MSP
- National Secretary - Dr Duncan Ross
- National Treasurer - Cllr Colin Beattie
- Organisation Convener - Cllr Willie Sawers
- Ordinary Members of NEC Parliamentarians (2 elected)
- ---Angus Robertson MP
- ---Richard Lochhead MSP
- Ordinary Members of NEC Non-Parliamentarians (6 elected)
- ---Bashir Ahmad MSP
- ---Cllr David Berry
- ---Gareth Finn
- ---Cllr Allison Hunter
- ---Cllr Kevin Stewart
- ---Cllr Grant Thoms
The SNP have been charged with being " has been quoted as saying of the SNP, "It's entirely their fault, this new racism in Scotland, this anti-Englishness"
UK Scots 'anti-English' - survey .
In March 2007 it was announced that the SNP were to accept a donation of £500,000 from
Brian Souter , the
Controversial businessman famous for the funding of a campaign to repeal the controversial anti-gay Section 28 law
Millionaire funds anti-gay law campaign . The donation was to help in the run-up to the Holyrood elections in May 2007.
Stagecoach tycoon donates to SNP
One month later, in April 2007, the SNP's commitment (made at the party's 2006 conference) to re-regulate the bus network was dropped from the 2007 manifesto.
SNP under attack after bus U-turn The SNP denied dropping the commitment because it could hurt the interests of a major financial backer.
- ''SNP:The History of the Scottish National Party'', by Peter Lynch, 2002
- ''The Flag in the Wind'', by John MacCormick , 1955
- ''Scotland Lives: the Quest for Independence'', by Billy Wolfe , 1973
- ''Scotland: the Case for Optimism'', by Jim Sillars , 1985
- ''Stop the World; The Autobiography of Winnie Ewing '', 2004
